Freeman preparing for his first start

Josh Freeman will be under center for Sunday’s game against the Green Bay Packers.

If you are like me you are asking yourself “Why on earth would we risk injury, or worse yet, the mental stability of our future, in a season that means nothing.”

This is a question I can’t answer, other than to make the guess that the front office brass are trying to find a way to keep the fans into this season, but I do know this: from a maturity standpoint, Freeman is no where near ready.

To compound matters, he does not have the supporting cast needed to be successful as a rookie gunslinger.

Several analysts and arm chair quarterbacks have made the argument that we have seen a lot of recent success from young quarterbacks who are thrust into a starting roll.

Joe Flacco has been fantastic in both his freshman and sophmore campaigns in the NFL.

Matt Ryan is the reason the Falcons are a winning team, and made strides in helping the team to forget Michael Vick.

Ben Roethlisberger has won Super Bowl’s in his first fives years.

With all that said…then why can’t Freeman do the same?

Let me give you a few reasons

• He has no one reliable to throw the ball to. Kellen Winslow Jr. is the team leader with 31 receptions. Next on the list is franchise tagged Antonio Bryant with 16. I am a big supporter of involving your tight end in your offense, but when the spread between your tight end leading your team in catches and your top receiver being second in catches is as large as it is in Tampa, that spells trouble. When you look at Flacco, Ryan or Roethlisberger, they all had guys they could rely on to get the ball to. Freeman does not have that at this point.
• The running game is not stable enough for Freeman to be able to rely on that. Our biggest off season acquisition–Derrick Ward–has only racked up 178 yards on 45 carries through the first seven games. This is NOT what we expected from this guy following his break out 1000 yard season with the Giants last year. This could spell trouble for Freeman. If you look at the guys above–Flacco had Willis McGahee, Le’Ron McClain & Ray Rice to give the ball to, Ryan had Michael Turner & Roethlisberger has Willie Parker–the Bucs do not have that sort of luxury.
• Our defense–for the first time I can remember–is not going to win games for us. In years past, we could get away with a Trent Dilfer or Shaun King type quarterback at the helm, because they would only have to lead the offense to 17 points, and we could win the game, because our defense was not going to give up more than 10-14 points per game. That is no longer the case. While I think Freeman is  a better talent than Dilfer for King, we simply are not giving him the same advantages those guys had.

I wish the front office would look at the big picture rather than dollar signs on this one. Yes, we need to sell tickets, but at what cost? What is wrong with letting Josh Johnson finish out the year under center? Raheem Morris has already said this guy is nothing more than a career back up. So why not let him get some game experience for a full season, that way when Freeman is ready to take over the reigns? Worst case, we have a back up that has some serious reps under his belt in case something would happen to our starter? Best case, Johnson impresses, and we keep Freeman on the bench until we can’t afford to resign Johnson.

If all goes as I see it playing out in my head, expect Freeman to MAYBE win one game this year, and for the Bucs to land the top pick in the draft. Let’s just hope they don’t trade it away for someone that turns out like Alvin Harper or Bert Emanuel.